The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) has observed over 70 violations of the Donbas "school truce" since midnight.

"OSCE SMM Alexander Hug: Since 00:01 SMM registered more than 70 ceasefire violations. Sides need to honor their recommitment. Firing has to stop now. To protect Ukrainians on both sides of the contact line," the mission wrote on Twitter on Wednesday morning.

The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine (TCG) agreed at its latest meeting in Minsk to establish another ceasefire at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, August 29, on the occasion of the new school year. This is the 24th truce established by the sides since the conflict broke out in 2014 but none of them has been fully honored.